Friday, December 1, 2017

‘One wrong just creates another wrong’: How the quiet transfer of teachers over disciplinary issues has led to patterns of abuse in schools

To Sir with love

A new school and a fresh start.

For the teacher accused of sexually abusing his high school students.

For the teacher who told a high school girl her breasts should be “big enough for a handful and small enough for a mouthful.”

For the teacher who sexually assaulted a female co-worker in an elevator at the school they worked at.

Teachers in Ontario can be transferred after their school boards find reason to discipline them, and in some of the province’s largest boards there is no requirement to tell a new principal about the incoming teacher’s past, a Star investigation has found.

The Star identified 27 cases heard by the Ontario College of Teachers, the provincial oversight and licensing body, between Jan. 2012 and Nov. 2017. In each case, the teacher had been investigated by their school board, disciplined, and transferred at least once by the time their case made it to a College hearing.

In all of the cases, the College’s disciplinary panel — made up of publicly appointed and teacher-elected College members — substantiated allegations of sexual, physical, psychological, verbal abuse or serious misconduct by those teachers. (more...)